The present invention relates to furniture such as bathroom vanities. More particularly it relates to bracket structures, collapsible walls and foldable bracing structures that facilitate assembly of such furniture.
Bathroom vanities typically have four main walls (front door frame, left side, right side and rear frame), with an open top. There may also be a bottom wall forming a storage shelf. A separate countertop with lavatory basin is supported by the vanity so that a basin drain extends into the vanity and out the vanity's rear frame. Water is typically fed to a faucet mounted through the countertop via the vanity's rear frame.
Such vanities are sometimes purchased in an already assembled form. However, even a relatively small vanity may be difficult to ship from the store or warehouse to the installation site unless the shipper has a pick-up truck or other large capacity vehicle. This may make it difficult for some consumers to transport the vanities themselves.
Moreover, if the vanity is already assembled during shipment it may be difficult to transport through some doorways at the installation site. Further, an already assembled vanity may take up undesirable amounts of display space at retailers. These problems can be exacerbated as the size of the vanity or other furniture item grows (e.g. a vanity suitable for a double basin sink).
Hence, it is desirable to be able to store a vanity and ship it to the installation site in a collapsed/unassembled form. Thereafter, the vanity can be constructed on-site.
However, there are a number of problems with this strategy. For example, if the assembly requires skilled labor, that can limit who can install the vanity, and further can unduly increase the cost of installation. Even where the assembly does not require skilled labor, if it is time consuming or requires following complex instructions, consumers may be dissatisfied with the process.
Also, if assembly requires special tools, that may cause further delays and problems. Moreover, some assembly techniques are prone to causing breakage or insecure connections.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,458,242 and 3,975,069 disclose collapsible vanities that can be constructed at the point of use in expedited fashion. As particularly shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,975,069 the collapsed form presents an almost suitcase-like appearance. However, the structure that permits collapsing and expanding requires complex bracing structures and has sturdiness concerns.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,779,466 disclosed a collapsible folding table. Again, there are some concerns regarding stability and complexity.
Other examples of collapsible apparatus are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,281,731, 3,801,208, 3,950,758, 4,065,195, 4,934,025, 5,308,157, 5,593,046, 5,664,854, 5,943,968, 6,578,500, 6,752,364, 6,766,623, 6,848,758, 6,851,564 and U.S. patent application publication 2005/0072340. Each of these assemblies has their limitations.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,509 disclosed a fastener for interlocking the corner portions of mutually orthogonal rectangular sheets, which could be used with a rectangular case. A disadvantage of this type of system was that it relied on a weak frictional connection. Further, the system did not adapt well to different thicknesses of walls.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,439 disclosed a drawer construction in which brackets took the place of conventional dovetail joints. However, this type of assembly either left the brackets visible, or required a front wall to significantly overhang the side walls to avoid the bracket visibility.
Other examples of apparatus for connecting perpendicular side panels are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,128,284, 4,279,455 and 5,647,181. Each of these techniques had their limitations.
Thus, a need still exists for improved collapsible furniture items which can be readily assembled at installation sites.